Turn of the Tide

Laser cut black paper, gold pigment

EXPO Chicago, Chicago 

April 12 – 16, 2023

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Turn Of the Tide is an installation composed of fragile paper sheets banded together into a colossal wave emerging from the ground, rising against a wall and curling at its summit, towering above visitors making their entrance to EXPO CHICAGO. The wave is dark and imposing, with subtle glimmers of gold that accentuate the crest of each undulating ripple. The intricate paper structure designed to disintegrate in the notorious winds that sweep through the city, devolves from pristine and orderly into a chaotic and distressed conclusion on the last day of the exhibition.

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The decay of the installation is accelerated by a series of performances by Irene Hsiao, a choreographer and movement artist based in Chicago. Irene becomes the embodiment of both the relentless force of entropy that ravages the seascape and the compassionate hand that tends to the resulting disorder. As the paper shatters, sways and descends, a chaotic metamorphosis unfolds, hauntingly reflecting the escalating impact of human behavior on the environment.

 

Turn Of the Tide was commissioned by Art at Time Like This and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) as part of  HOW ON EARTH, a climate-focused exhibition featured at EXPO CHICAGO 2023.

 

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